Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress has been made on developing a national centre for Family Hubs.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.
On family hubs, the department is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021 and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.
To support and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department has:
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support parents to mitigate the detrimental effects of covid-19 lockdown on the social development of (a) new born babies and (b toddlers.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Community health services have continued to provide support during the pandemic with greater use of digital and remote technologies providing support and prioritising higher needs families. Health visitors, as the lead for the Healthy Child Programme, and maternity settings will continue to be key contacts between the health system and families. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s community health services prioritisation/restoration document and standard operating procedure make clear that these services will continue to perform vital functions, virtually or face to face if there is a clinical or safeguarding concern.
The Early Years Health Adviser (Rt hon. Andrea Leadsom MP) is carrying out a review focusing on the period from birth to age two and a half. The review will look at the lessons learned from COVID-19, including minimising the risks from the pandemic to very young children.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Centre for Social Justice Testing Times: Supporting fathers during the perinatal period and early parenthood, published on 16 December; and in particular its findings that (1) inspection frameworks related to maternity services, Health Visitors, and Children’s Centres contain few direct references to “fathers”, (2) 69 per cent of new fathers thought that they “were made to feel like a ‘spare part’ during the pregnancy period”, and (3) 55 per cent of low income fathers said they were left to “pick it up themselves” compared to only 29 per cent of higher income fathers.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department is aware of the Centre for Social Justice’s recent report into supporting fathers during the perinatal period and early parenthood, published in December 2018. The Department recognises the vital role fathers can often play during pregnancy and early years, as well as the fact that every family is different.
We welcome the high levels of engagement fathers currently have with various aspects of the health service, as cited in the report, including the estimated 94% of new fathers that have attended one or more antenatal appointments, and almost all attending both ultrasound scans and the birth itself.
The Maternity Transformation Programme is working to make maternity care more personalised including responding to the needs of fathers as well as mothers. Postnatal and perinatal mental health care, maternity care and personalised care plans are recognised as important for the whole family, including fathers, and they should therefore be involved where appropriate.
Furthermore, the Healthy Child Programme states that the father’s contribution should be one of the key topics to be covered during a health and development review by a health visitor. It emphasises the importance of ensuring that contact with the family routinely involves and supports fathers, including non-resident fathers.
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Digital's publication, Cervical screening programme England 2017-18, published on 27 November 2018, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in the number of eligible women taking up such screening in the last 21 years.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England has reviewed the data from 2013 showing the continuing gradual national and international decline in the five-year coverage. Assessments for the decline were done in partnership with key stakeholders Public Health England (PHE) and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.
NHS England hosted a spotlight session in April 2016 which focussed on gaining insight into the reasons why women do or do not attend for screening. This suggested that ease of access together with attitudinal changes to informed choice, may contribute to this widespread reduction in uptake.
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust published a report in January 2018 suggesting that some young women did not attend cervical screening appointments because they were embarrassed about their body, while others did not think the test was important and were not at risk because they led healthy lifestyles.
NHS England and PHE have therefore modified the commissioning levers and communication processes, for example through supporting Jo’s Trust in the Time to Screen campaign and the development of a new ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign for early 2019 promoting uptake of cervical screening.
NHS England has supported the Cancer Alliances who bring together local senior clinical and managerial leaders representing the whole cancer patient pathway across a specific geography, and have a general role in improving early diagnosis. In turn they have developed specific plans to improve uptake rates in screening programmes as part of that agenda with cervical screening considered a priority area.
Cancer Research UK and Macmillan general practitioners (GPs) are also being utilised to provide awareness and training, with work and focus groups to target reducing inequalities among women over 50 and women from Eastern European countries a specific focus in one region. The role that sexual health clinics can play in providing access to screening among vulnerable women via an opportunistic offer of screening is being considered.
Training of GP receptionists is underway to improve ease of access to a screening appointment, while a toolkit has been developed to reduce the inequality in uptake among women with a learning disability.
In addition, NHS England recently announced that Professor Sir Mike Richards has been asked to lead a review of cancer screening programmes which will consider ways to increase uptake of cervical screening.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need for a comprehensive review of the Primary Physical Education and Sport Premium including (1) Ofsted inspection procedure, (2) differentiated guidance and outcomes for physical activity, (3) teacher development, (4) pupil attainment, and (5) participation in competition and sport.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
It is important that all children have the opportunity to engage in physical activity and sport in a way that interests them. We want all schools to understand the importance of being physically active in keeping children healthy and the positive impact it can have on a child’s health and wellbeing. The government has doubled the PE and sport premium from September 2017 using revenue from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.
Use of the primary PE and sport premium is already considered as part of school inspections. The inspection framework is the specific responsibility of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted. Ofsted expect all schools to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum, which includes sporting opportunities for pupils.
The premium is intended to support schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of PE and sport they offer. Play and activity is essential for children’s development in the early years and is a therefore an integral part of all aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS Statutory Framework sets out a requirement that educational programmes must provide opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement to aid their physical development. In addition, the programmes set out each area of learning and development and must be implemented through planned, purposeful play through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity.
Schools were required to publish information on use of the PE and sport premium on their websites by 4 April 2018. The department has committed to sample a number of schools in each local authority, with the schools chosen based on a mix of random selection and prior non-compliance with the online reporting requirements. We are considering what further use we might make of that, and other sources of information, in making an assessment of the use and impact of the premium and reviewing our future approach.
Asked by: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review national guidance on the importance of sleep to babies and children to include (a) good sleep hygiene, (b) consistent bedtimes, (c) safe infant sleeping, (d) screen-based usage for parents; and provide initial training and CPD for Health Visitors and Early Years teachers.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We do not have plans to review the evidence on sleep interventions.
There is no national guidance on evidence-based recommended sleep duration for children because of the significant variation between children. The focus of the advice for parents is therefore on good bedtime routines and how to prevent and respond to common sleep problems.
However, this Government recognises the importance of healthy sleep patterns to aid children’s development. Health visitors, as part of the Healthy Child Programme, have contact with families during pregnancy and in the early days and weeks after birth. They provide advice on a range of issues to support the transition to parenthood. This will include a discussion of protective factors for babies’ safety such as safe sleeping, temperature control and infant feeding; their work has a strong focus on healthy sleep practices, bath, book, bed routines and activities. Health visitors signpost parents to trusted sources of further information such as those produced by the Lullaby Trust.
The NHS’ Start4Life Information Service for Parents provides information via email on keeping babies safe and provides guidance on preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), with links to further information online at:
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a guideline on postnatal care up to eight weeks after birth, which includes recommendations on co-sleeping. NICE is currently updating this, and currently expects to publish final guidance in January 2020. The guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg37/chapter/1-recommendations#maintaining-infant-health –
Section 1.4.47 is for health professionals; a section for parents is at:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg37/ifp/chapter/safety
The NHS Choices website provides guidance for parents on the amounts of sleep for children at different ages as well as advice and support for parents and children about sleep hygiene. It also provides factsheets on minimising the risk of SIDS. These are available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/childrenssleephome.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome/pages/introduction.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/reducing-risk-cot-death.aspx
We are looking at the impact of screen time on a child’s cognitive development and we recognise that even parents who consider themselves digitally savvy can struggle with managing their children’s screen time as they grow older. A report led by the Chief Medical Officer has been commissioned, which will look at the impact of social media on children’s mental health. It will align with the Internet Safety Strategy published by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in October last year, which outlined plans for a social media code of practice.
Public Health England has also developed specific advice resources on sleep issues for children and young people with the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the MindEd programme – this is a free educational resource on children and young people's mental health for all adults. It includes an interactive slide-pack on sleep difficulties (including for disabled children) available at the following link:
https://www.minded.org.uk/Component/Details/445706
Asked by: Baroness Jowell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies they intend to implement in recognition of the contribution of the first 1,000 days of a child’s life to its subsequent academic and other attainment.
Answered by Lord Nash
As the Prime Minister made clear in his speech on 11 January 2016, the government understands the importance of those first crucial years of life and that we need to get parenting and the early years right if we are to improve children’s life chances. The government will be publishing a Life Chances strategy in the spring which will set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity, including policies to give children the best start in life.
The government is already implementing a range of policies which recognise the contribution of the first 1001 days of a child’s life to its subsequent academic and other attainment, which are detailed below.
Healthy Child Programme
The evidence based Healthy Child Programme is the universal service offered to every family. Delivered by health visitors, the programme centres on a series of screening tests, immunisations, developmental reviews, and information and guidance to support families of children aged 0-5 years. Since October 2015 there have been five mandated child development reviews, to provide a national standard format to ensure universal coverage and ongoing improvements in public health. Effective implementation of the Healthy Child Programme should lead to readiness for school and improved learning.
Best Start in Life programme
One of Public Health England’s (PHE) national priorities is to ensure that every child has the best start in life, so that they are ready to learn at age two and ready for school at five. The Best Start in Life programme provides national leadership to support local areas to take a whole system approach to commission and provide evidence based services and interventions which improve child health outcomes and reduce inequalities. PHE also has has also published a range of professional guidance for best practice to support families in the first 1001 days.
Integrated Review (IR)
In 2013, DfE ran a joint Integrated Review pilot with the Department of Health (DH) which focused on two-year-olds in registered childcare settings. This was to test out the most effective way of undertaking the early years progress check with the universal DH Healthy Child Programme and providing parents with a holistic review of their child’s development. In 2015, we provided funding to support the roll out of the IR by all local authorities in England. We are currently piloting the second phase of the IR with eight local authority pilot areas to test different local models of how early years practitioners can collaborate with health professionals to identify parents of two year-olds not in registered childcare settings, so that their children can also benefit from an Integrated Review.
Early Learning for Two Year Olds
There is a strong body of evidence that shows good quality childcare and pre-school provision, especially from age two and upwards, has positive benefits on children’s all round attainment and behaviour. For this reason the government introduced the early learning for two-year-olds programme in September 2013 for 130,000 of the most disadvantaged children in England. In September 2014, the programme was later expanded to 260,000 of the most disadvantaged children in England. The programme is becoming increasingly popular amongst eligible parents.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated in the last five years on a link between brain development and nurturing in early years; and what additional resources her Department is providing in (i) Hartlepool, (ii) North East England and (iii) England to ensure infants' brains are stimulated and developed.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Education recognises the importance of brain development and nurturing in the early years. Research shows that high quality early education, in conjunction with effective parenting skills, has a positive influence on children’s confidence, their capacity to learn, and contributes to a sense of well-being and self-worth. The foundations for human development – physical, intellectual and emotional – are laid in early childhood. It is for this reason that the department has invested so heavily in the early education entitlement for all three- and four-year-olds as well as the most disadvantaged two-year-olds. The department has also brought forward a Childcare Bill to give families where all parents are working an entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for their three- and four-year olds.
The department has commissioned and evaluated a significant amount of research on early education, which encompasses consideration of a range of issues such as child development and nurturing. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which all registered early years providers must follow, recognises that good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation that children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. The EYFS is based on evidence considered by Dame Clare Tickell in her 2011 review. A report of the evidence can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-early-years-foundation-stage-review-report-on-the-evidence
A number of other important reviews have also informed this department’s policy on early education. These include reports by Graham Allen MP in 2011 on early intervention and Professor Sir Michael Marmot in 2010 which highlighted the important lifelong effects that the early years (starting in the womb) has on many aspects of health and well-being, educational achievement and economic status. The reports can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-intervention-the-next-steps--2 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61012/earlyintervention-smartinvestment.pdf
http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/projects/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review
The department also published research in 2014 on the CANparent trial, a government initiative to examine the development of a universal offer of parenting classes to enhance parenting skills and increase confidence. The report can be found at: http://www.canparent.org.uk/sites/default/files/Trial_evaluation_final_report__09_07_14_.pdf
Child development in the early years remains a key research priority for this department. A major piece of longitudinal research, Study of Early Education and Development (SEED), has been commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the current early education model in England. SEED will specifically examine the impact on child development of providing funded early years education to two year olds from lower income families. The study will follow the progress of over 5,000 children from the age of two, up until the end of key stage one at the age of seven. SEED will update evidence from the highly influential Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) that has provided crucial evidence of the benefits of high quality early years education. A full impact report is due in 2020.
Although we do not have a separate funding stream to “ensure infants’ brains are stimulated and developed”, the department continues to invest heavily in the early education entitlement for all three- and four-year-olds and the most disadvantaged two-year-olds. The early years pupil premium (EYPP) was introduced in April 2015 and provides additional support for disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds accessing the government-funded entitlement hours.
For three- and four-year-olds, the 2015-16 initial funding allocation for the existing entitlement and the early years pupil premium is:
3/4-year-old entitlement | EYPP
| Total
| |
Hartlepool | £2.99 million
| £135,000 | £3.13 million |
North East England | £92.89 million
| £2.98 million | £95.87 million |
England | £2.18 billion
| £50 million | £2.23 billion |
These data are published and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016
Funding allocations for 2015-16 for two-year-olds will be announced in July 2015, as this is the first year of participation-based funding for two-year-olds. The hourly rate for two-year-olds was announced in October 2015 for all local authorities. Children in Hartlepool will receive £4.85 per hour and the national average hourly funding rate is £5.09. This data is published and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/392709/Hourly_rates_for_2-year-olds__2015_to_2016.pdf
Local authorities are funded for the early years entitlement and the EYPP through the Dedicated Schools Grant. In consultation with their Schools Forum, local authorities are responsible for deciding how best to distribute this funding across their locality. They also set their own local rates of funding for early years providers and should set rates in close consultation with providers.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide more effective support to children with disabilities in their formative years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
In September 2012 we introduced a new early years progress check for children at the age of two, as part of the reformed Early Years Foundation Stage. This will help to pick up potential difficulties early and ensure that support plans are in place for tackling them.
We are working with the Department of Health to co-ordinate the new check at age two with the Healthy Child Programme’s health and development review at age two to two-and-a-half. The aim is to create a fully integrated early years and health review from 2015.
This will be supported by the reforms set out in the Children and Families Act and the new 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice. These are part of wider educational reform in England to ensure that all children and young people have access to high quality teaching and equal opportunities, regardless of background or circumstance. The SEND reforms aim to join up support across education, health and care from birth to 25. Help is to be offered at the earliest possible point, with children and young people with SEND and their parents fully involved in decisions about their support and what they want to achieve.
The reforms will create a more streamlined and transparent system that gives children with SEND and their families individualised support from birth until adulthood. There will be much more of a focus on outcomes, not hours. Professionals will need to focus on the progress each child or young person makes as a result of interventions, not just how much time, resource or money is being put in to support them.
All maintained nurseries, schools and colleges must work with their local authority to develop a ‘local offer’. This will outline all the support available across health, education and care, to children and young people with SEND and what to do if things go wrong or parents and young people are unhappy about the support they are getting.
The new system will be introduced from 1 September 2014 with the transition from the old to the new system to be complete within three years.